As she stepped in with her long legs that exceeded a ter, Wang Zheng's gaze involuntarily shifted from her face to her legs.
Realizing his actions were a bit sleazy, Wang Zheng imdiately moved his gaze away and said with a hint of awkwardness, "Oh, it's Mr. Ya. What's for dinner tonight?"
"What else could it be, instant mashed potatoes." The female lieutenant surnad Ya handed two cups of already prepared mashed potatoes to the two of them, pulled over a folding chair and sat down casually, "How's it going, any anomalies with Chira 17?"
"Sa as usual, body size keeps increasing," Mr. Xu said, "How are things outside?"
Mr. Ya shook her head, "Not optimistic, radiation levels are still rising. Soone who went on patrol with today accidentally fell, tearing the protective suit, and shortly after returning, showed symptoms of mild radiation sickness. I've already had him sent to the rear."
If Mr. Xu was the highest authority responsible for managing all affairs of Bunker No. 1, then Mr. Ya was the highest military officer of Bunker No. 1. She commanded the entire combat force of more than twenty people in Bunker No. 1, and the most dangerous patrol missions outside were all led by her.
She belonged to a very special unit—the "Deceit Hunting Squad," and the earliest mber who arrived at Tianfu City from this squad was Ye Jiu.
Like Ye Jiu, Ya Baishuang was also an adept of deceit equipnt, with two daggers fixed by a belt at the back of her waist as her deceit equipnt.
"Well, now we're short a few more people," Wang Zheng scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth—to ensure frontline personnel's nutrition, these instant mashed potatoes had a lot of 'stuff' added, making their taste and texture very different from ordinary mashed potatoes sold in supermarkets.
In Wang Zheng's own words, "No matter how much seasoning is added, it can't cover up the strong taste of chemicals."
But Bunker No. 1 was really too far from the logistics supply base. Not only was it deep in the heart of the radiation zone, but there was heavy 'dirty rain' falling from the sky laced with radioactive dust, making it really difficult to transport supplies in... It was already no easy task for the rear to guarantee them three als a day to fill their stomachs.
"Losing two people isn't a big deal. What bothers is sothing else..." Ya Baishuang said, while eating and peering through the window glass at the distant Chira 17, "They require us to increase the frequency of routine patrols... According to their requirents, we need to patrol a circle every eight hours from the bunker with a radius of two kiloters..."
"Every eight hours?" Wang Zheng was shocked.
As a mber of Bunker No. 1, Wang Zheng had observed every ti Ya Baishuang took people on patrols—a circle with a radius of two kiloters seed not large, but in this harsh environnt and weather conditions, it took less than three hours just to finish a circle, not to ntion the ti for putting on and taking off equipnt and resupply... In other words, Ya Baishuang and her team had to spend nearly half of their ti outside each day on patrols.
Even an iron man couldn't withstand such trouble!
"I refused, I told them, now patrolling every sixteen hours is already the physical limit for my subordinates, if the interval is shortened further, it will inevitably lead to non-combat attrition," Ya Baishuang said.
"What did the higher-ups say?" Mr. Xu asked.
"What else can they say, they can't force us to go on patrols, can they?" Ya Baishuang swallowed her mashed potatoes, "They just told to increase patrol frequency as much as possible without exhausting the soldiers... Anyway, I pretended not to hear."
"Tsk... Speaking of which, there's not much ti left until the final battle, right?" Wang Zheng muttered.
"Who knows, for such things, you probably have to ask the people who devised the whole operation plan," Mr. Xu waved his hand, "For us, we don't have to worry about those things, we just have to do our own jobs well."
"Hey, since there's nothing else to do, how about you tell those stories of yours, Mr. Xu?" Wang Zheng urged, "Those stories of escaping from death, I'm really interested in hearing them."
"You really want to hear them?" Mr. Xu glanced at him, "Aren't you afraid of having nightmares at night?"
"Is it that exaggerated?" Wang Zheng raised his eyebrows, "To be honest, I don't believe it."
"You better not regret it later..."
Just as Mr. Xu was planning to start, Ya Baishuang suddenly stood up, walked a few steps towards the observation window.
"What's wrong?" Mr. Xu, being cautious by nature, imdiately sensed sothing amiss and asked urgently.
"Look, on the surface of Chira 17 facing us, isn't there a patch of bumps growing?" Ya Baishuang pointed at the distant Chira 17 and said.
"Bumps?" Wang Zheng also stood up, "From such a distance, you can see clearly?"
"Not very clearly..."
"It seems... there is a patch of bumps," Mr. Xu squinted his eyes and said, "I rember during the last observation, this area seed very smooth... Wang, quickly magnify the image captured by the telescope!"
"Ok... ok!" Wang Zheng hurried over to the computer in a few quick steps.
The telescope was always aid at Chira 17, Wang Zheng slightly adjusted the telescope's angle with the control stick, instantly locking the lens onto the area with the 'bumps'.
As the telescope finished refocusing, Wang Zheng suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight, and he stepped backward abruptly, causing the chair legs to scrape harshly against the floor, making a loud screeching noise.
That dense patch of bumps on Chira 17's surface... turned out to be human faces magnified dozens of tis!
"What... what is this?" Ya Baishuang gripped Wang Zheng's chair back firmly, her eyes filled with shock.
"Capture the image! Upload it to headquarters imdiately! Quick!" Mr. Xu shouted.
"Ok... ok! I'll do it right away... Damn it!"
With an exclamation, Wang Zheng fell onto the floor.
The spot targeted by the telescope, those eerie faces actually opened their eyes in unison, looking at the lens with a mocking smile.
Even separated by the computer screen, the three of them felt an eerie sensation of making eye contact with those monstrous faces.
"They... they're looking at ... us!" Wang Zheng stamred incoherently.
"Don't talk nonsense!" Mr. Xu forced himself to remain calm, pulling Wang Zheng up, "We're tens of kiloters away from Chira 17! How could these bizarre things possibly see us without a telescope?"
"But, but Mr. Xu..." Wang Zheng pointed at the screen, trembling, "Don't you think they're staring right at the lens?"
"Maybe it's just a coincidence!" Mr. Xu shouted lowly, "It's not that they're looking at the lens, but our lens just happened to catch their eyes! Stop scaring yourself, dammit!"
At this mont, Ya Baishuang had already run out of the observation room, and blaring sirens started wailing inside Bunker No. 1.
"Mr. Xu, I think I have a way to know if they're staring at the lens..." Wang Zheng murmured.
"What way?"
"Just slightly adjust the angle of the lens, and we can..."
"Then stop talking and do it quickly! Or are you scared?"
"I... I'm not scared... I was just thinking, what if they're really staring at the lens, what should we do?"
"What else can we do? Let these faces co up to my nose if they have the guts... Tens of kiloters away, what are you afraid of?"
Wang Zheng took a deep breath, grabbed the control stick for the lens angle with one hand, and turned on the auto-focus adjustnt function for the lens, moving the lens little by little with a minimal range.
The image started moving slowly, and as it moved, the gaze of those grotesque faces followed.
It wasn't a coincidence!
They were staring at the telescope lens!
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